“I think he should be extremely respected coming back (to Ottawa), and hopefully the fans appreciate everything he’s done and don’t judge him for this one decision,” Turris told the Ottawa Citizen on Thursday. “I think when it’s all said and done, he’s at a point where he’s kind of earned the right to do what he wants.”

Alfredsson and the Red Wings visit Ottawa for the first time next season on Dec. 1, and nobody’s quite sure what the reaction will be.

The immediate aftermath of Alfredsson’s departure was anger and vitriol from Sens fans, as per CBC:

On local sports radio reaction was mixed from sadness to anger with some fans going so far as to call Alfredsson a traitor while others blamed the organization for allowing the captain to leave.

Various fans threatened to cancel season tickets; others called for Murray’s resignation while others felt Alfredsson was allowing greed to dictate his future.

The general consensus seemed to be that this would likely tarnish Alfredsson’s legacy with the Senators.

Well, except they also gave up Jakob Silfverberg, who is a good young player right now, to get Ryan as well as a good prospect and a first rounder next year. If it was just a matter of swapping out an elderly Alfredsson for a Ryan in his prime, Ottawa would be thrilled, but it’s rather more than that.

phillyphanatic77 - Aug 2, 2013 at 12:14 AM

Wasn’t it Melnyk’s internal budget that essentially led to Murray low-balling the best player in Senator’s history? I’d blame Melnyk’s financial troubles for Alfie’s departure. Sure he wanted a chance at the Cup, but he probably could’ve been convinced to stay… for the right price. And it didn’t help that, leading up to free agency, Murray acted totally nonchalant about the possibility of Alfredsson leaving. He talked like there was no chance he would ever leave Ottawa.

bigx21 - Aug 2, 2013 at 1:33 AM

Alffy made a good decision on leaving the Sens. He knew he had no chance of winning the cup during his maybe last season. So he went to a team that had more chance. Not a selfish choice but more a better chance of winning the cup at his age on a contender team!! Wish him the best!!

Coming from a guy who gave less than 100% to the organization that drafted him and held out for several months as a RFA after showing nothing deserving of being drafted 3rd overall doesn’t mean too much. Turris is just as worthless as that P.O.S Blake Wheeler. Hope he enjoys Winnipeg for the next six years after losing out on the Cup in Boston.

Turris was completely mismanaged by Gretzky. His development was going nowhere. The Coyotes in the Gretzky era were a total mess. If I was him I wouldn’t want to play where I’m not getting developed either. Now that you have a real coach in Phoenix, young players will get the attention they deserve in order to develop and help the team.

I agree 100% with you except Turris bailed during Tippet’s SECOND season with the Yotes. He made no effort to become a team player here and try Tippet’s system. Obviously it sucks losing Turris, the 3rd overall pick and Wheeler, the 5th overall pick the way we did. What other team has had to go through the crap we’ve had to put up with the past 6 or 7 years. Unbelievable!